Rail passengers face chaos over the bank holiday weekend with more than 3,000
replacement buses scheduled to be in place across the country, it was
revealed yesterday.

Despite the delays and longer journeys passengers will not be entitled to compensation unless the trip takes significantly longer than the revised timetable which has been put in place to take account of the diversions and replacement buses.

Earlier this month the Daily Telegraph disclosed that rail companies were not only being paid compensation by Network Rail for the loss of access to the track but were also receiving a separate bus grant from the Department for Transport.

Engineering works will see 3,428 replacement buses in place, nearly 100 more than last year.

On the main line from Euston to the North West and Glasgow, passengers will have to change trains at Crewe.

There will also be local replacement buses from Wigan to Crewe and from Manchester Piccadilly to Chester.

In addition there will be some service alterations on the East Coast line because of engineering work at York.

Meanwhile in southern England the biggest disruption will see services suspended on Saturday between Marylebone, High Wycombe and Bicester.

However according to Network Rail, there will be 1,700 more trains running over the Bank Holiday than there were during the same period last year.

A spokesman said that 6.5 per cent of train services would be replaced by a bus over the weekend.

He added: "The rail network is open for business this bank holiday weekend with around 95% of services running compared to a normal weekend" said a spokesman for the company which runs Britain's track network.

"As Network Rail and train operators continually improve their planning, at each bank holiday passengers will notice fewer changes to their journeys.

"In fact, this August bank holiday weekend around 1,700 extra trains will run compared to the same bank holiday last year – an increase of 3.5%.

"Over the last few years there has been a significant reduction in the number of replacement buses running at bank holidays – since 2009 there has been a decline of 34.4%.

"This bank holiday, in some parts of the country, work is ongoing – just like any other weekend – to improve the network and benefit future passenger journeys. "

As always, passengers should check with their train operator or national rail enquiries before they travel."